Google Must Tries for Your Vacation Part 2

Malou Damgaard
|
July
24,
2018

Location Based AR Games

Last week, we tipped you about the new features in Google Maps that lets you explore the world in a whole new way. Today we’re bringing extinct dinosaurs and zombies to your neighborhood when we’re zooming in on AR mobile games built with Google Maps Data.

Back in March, Google announced that they’re opening up Maps, so game developers can create real-world games with the richest and most accurate map in the world. Since then there has been a wave of location-based mobile games announced and two of them has already been released: Walking Dead Our World by Next Games and Jurassic World Alive by Ludia.

Watch Out for The Zombies

In the game that was released July 12, you start as a survivor with just a pistol. As you clear out ‘Infestations’ (rooms full of zombies), save survivors and escort them back to your base, you earn “cards” that lets you upgrade your weapons and give you access to buddies - both no-names made up for this game and true Walking Dead heroes.

The “problem” with location based games is that you need to move. This means you can’t sit in your couch all day and play The Walking Dead even though it’s a great game. The good news, however, is that The Walking Dead actually lets you fight zombies that are up to approx. 100 meter from you and as the zombies move, new ones will regularly enter your ‘area’.

Want to Save Dinosaurs?

In Jurassic World Alive you become member of the Dinosaur Protection Group that is on a mission to save dinosaurs that have escaped Jurassic World on Isla Nublar. You do that by exploring the world where dinos are nestled among 3D buildings, roads, landmarks, and parks - in other words, it’s much like Pokémon Go, just with dinosaurs.

Once you’ve found the dinosaurs, you can track them with drones, collect DNA samples to level up, and create hybrid dinosaurs in your lab. Once you’ve assembled your own roster of prehistoric animals, you can battle other players to defend against threats to your mission.

As a member of the Dinosaur Protection Group, you also have to perform different duties. To do this, you’ll need to earn rewards like in-game currency and battery life for your drone by finding supply drops. These are strategically placed in fun places using Google Maps’ in-depth understanding of real world places.

The Ghosts Are Coming

Later this year, FourThirtyThree Creative Lab will release their location-based game, Ghostbuster World, but the exact date hasn’t been announced yet.

For now, Google is handling the gaming segment themselves. This means that the official services for creating location-based games aren’t publicly available - but feel free to reach out to talk about the possibilities.